Parking the car

Parking the car

I just wanted to book my EP ticket and noticed that you have made a good
arrangement with the conference hotel, thanks for that!

But in the end, I did not, because the parking expenses (if any) are
unclear. I am from southern germany and might collect some fellow python
people from germany and drive by car to Florence.

As on the EP site there was no statement about parking costs (and I
already knew from last year that this is an issue in florence), I
googled a bit and finally found that the grand hotel mediterraneo
usually takes 22 EUR PER DAY(!) just for a parking place in their
garage, which kind of spoils the whole deal for me.

Did you talk with them about parking costs? If not, could you do that?

Paying almost the same for a car sleeping place than for my personal
sleeping place feels a bit weird. ;)

Re: Parking the car

> Hi,
>
> I just wanted to book my EP ticket and noticed that you have made a good
> arrangement with the conference hotel, thanks for that!

Thanks! Rooms are limited though, so I suggest people that are sure to come one way or another to book as soon as possible. We will do our best to secure more rooms into this deal, but after this first batch prices might have to go up a little.

Blogpost about this is going out asap.

> But in the end, I did not, because the parking expenses (if any) are
> unclear. I am from southern germany and might collect some fellow python
> people from germany and drive by car to Florence.
>
> As on the EP site there was no statement about parking costs (and I

> already knew from last year that this is an issue in florence), I
> googled a bit and finally found that the grand hotel mediterraneo
> usually takes 22 EUR PER DAY(!) just for a parking place in their
> garage, which kind of spoils the whole deal for me.

We used to have a convention for that, which downs that to €15/day. Since nobody used it last year, I'm not even sure we've refreshed it this year. I'll have to double check this.

One thing we can surely do is to demand and obtain 2-3 free parking slots at Mediterraneo, and then offer them on our website. This can't scale obviously, but it's better than nothing. I'll make sure to put this on the table on our next negotiation meeting, which is next Monday :)

> Did you talk with them about parking costs? If not, could you do that?
>
> Paying almost the same for a car sleeping place than for my personal
> sleeping place feels a bit weird. ;)

In Florence, most of the parking slots are either reserved for residents of each zone, or subjected to a hourly fee. Nonetheless, if you are OK with leaving your car unattended (there's no specific reason why you shouldn't, but some people might be sensitive to this), there are many places where you can park it for free, and then get a taxi or a bus to the hotel. For instance, you could park in a nearby shopping mall free parking (which are usually meant for shoppers, but not enforced as such). The taxi is going to cost you ~10/15 euro one way with luggages. The bus is €1,20 one way. Obviously the best solution also depends on whether you plan on using the car during your staying in Florence or not.

I'll try to come up with 2-3 different suggestions on "how to park free or very cheaply" and put them on that website page. It's never been a priority for the reasons explained above, but it's surely due.

BTW: it might sound disingenuous, but we can't be aware that you need more information until you speak up. So, please everybody, speak up if you need help with travel arrangements, or whatnot. We're here to help you.
--
Giovanni Bajo

Yes, I have seen that after you pointing there. I didn't look at the
"where" as I knew where it is. :)

> We used to have a convention for that, which downs that to €15/day.

Yeah, but 15 * 8 is already 83% of my flight price. ;)

> Since nobody used it last year, I'm not even sure we've refreshed it this year.

I guess it is rather uninteresting if you get a cheap flight and would
drive alone.

The calculation gets different if there are multiple people travelling
with you. Of course one has to consider car costs + fuel + highway costs
+ parking + the time/effort needed for that travel.

BTW, thanks again for making the booking much easier this year. I spent
a lot of time arranging room sharing with 3 other people in a nearby
hotel last year. This time, it was much quicker and less complicated due
to you organizing it for us all! :)